My Scrapbook

The Sealey Challenge Day 11

...we grope,
for clothes and coffee, our selves
woken by waking beside

each other: who climb back down
from separate sleep
and are, by morning, married.

from “Native to Valleys,” in Margins, Booth’s fourth book.

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The Sealey Challenge Day 10

...the poem,
the poem that must
map the bottom
of here, would be
some sort of base
to start out from.

from “Heart of Darkness,” in Weathers and Edges, Booth’s third book.

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The Sealey Challenge Day 9

I love you by the terms/I make to give you.

from “Adam,” in Letter from a Distant Land, Booth’s first book.

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The Sealey Challenge Day 8

She never knew what to expect from her furtive trysts with death
And much to her amazement,
She realized that had made her husk of a life worth living.

from “The Cancer Chronicles,” in No Surrender, Ai’s eighth book.

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The Sealey Challenge Day 7

A woman is not a horse you can trade, sell or shoot
when you get tired of her.
I realize now that it’s too late
a man can learn from his mistakes.
A few good women is all it takes.

from “The Saga of Charlie Smith,” in Dread, Ai’s seventh book.

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The Sealey Challenge Day 6

I don’t want the truth,
I want the lies,
so look this way,
say something nasty.
Don’t be shy.

from “The Paparazzi,” in Vice, Ai’s sixth book.

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The Sealey Challenge Day 5

When the police come,
I’m sitting at the table,
the cup of coffee
that I am unable to drink
as cold as you body.
I shot him, I say, he beat me.
I do not tell them how the emancipation from pain
leaves nothing in its place.

from “Finished,” in Greed, Ai’s fifth book.

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The Sealey Challenge Day 4

from “Capture” in Fate, Ai's fourth book

“You tricked me,” he gasped
as he poured himself into my glass
and I drank him like grappa
made from grapes
I'd picked with my own hands.

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The Sealey Challenge Day 3

Manhood, a dream, an illusion, I think,
as I lay down the photograph
and stand still in the anemic glow
of the darkroom lights,
my body giving off the formaldehyde smell
of the unknown.

from “The Journalist,” in Sin, Ai’s third book.

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God. The boot heel an inch above your head is mine.
God, say your prayers.

—from Killing Floor, Ai’s second book

For this year’s Sealey challenge, I'm reading the collected volumes on my shelf, starting with Ai’s. I first learned from her about immersing yourself fully in a poem’s voice. Her first book was Cruelty. #sealeychallenge